The Harvest
Authors: N.W. Harris
Tags: #scifi, #action adventure, #end of the world, #teen science fiction, #survival stories, #young adult dystopian, #young adult post apocalyptic
The Last Orphans, Book II
By N.W. Harris
THIS book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales
is entirely coincidental.
NO part of this book may be reproduced,
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The Harvest
Copyright ©2015 Neil Harris
All rights reserved.
Cover Design by: Christian Bentulan
Typography by: Courtney Nuckels
Editing by: Cynthia Shepp
For Amanda, Emily, and
Logan
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Six
thousand years ago, on the fertile plains between the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers, the first civilization erupted from nothing.
Until this time, humans led a hunter-gatherer existence. Primitive
people of the Stone Age who’d done little more than etch images of
their prey on the walls of the caves where they dwelt suddenly
created massive cities and settled into an organized, agrarian
lifestyle. In an impossibly short period of time, they created
government, religion, medicine, mathematics, writing—and began
keeping records, creating literature, and studying the stars.
How?
Why?
In Mesopotamia and elsewhere, these
cavemen-turned-intellects built massive pyramid-shaped structures
to honor their gods, crediting these beings from the stars for
creating them and teaching them how to evolve beyond their primal
existence. Sumerian writings make it clear the Anunnaki came from
the sky. They enslaved humans, but also forced their evolution and
advancement.
Today, many people still believe the Anunnaki
created humans by adding their DNA to that of the Neanderthals to
make the perfect slave. They use this theory to explain the abrupt
evolution of Homo sapiens and the unlikely extinction of the hardy
Neanderthals.
Archeologists have discovered similar stories
from other ancient civilizations—the Hopi, the Mayans, the Aztecs,
and the Egyptians. Creatures from the heavens are described in many
religions, as is a great flood that destroyed most of humanity. For
believers in the ancient alien theory, another disturbing
similarity can be found in the prophetic writings of ancient and
modern religions. They speak of the end of days.
They say humans will bow to these creatures
from the heavens once again.
The gods will return.
Shane’s legs
didn’t react to his command. Shock permeated his entire body.
“Easy there,” the attractive brunette woman
said, extending her hand.
“I’m fine,” he whispered.
He cleared his throat and straightened his
six-foot frame in front of her. Pain radiating from the gashes left
by Steve’s knife muted the excitement and relief of being
rescued.
“Why didn’t y’all come earlier?” he asked,
trying not to wince.
“We had to take shelter, or we would have
been killed like the rest,” she replied, her voice calm and
reassuring.
He wanted to collapse back onto the couch, to
surrender all responsibility for himself and everyone else to this
woman.
Some adults were alive!
They’d come to take the burden of watching
out for all these people from him. For an instant, he felt like a
kid again and almost wanted to break down, to tell her how the
insects and animals had taken his and his friends’ families, and
how they’d been forced to fight other teenagers. How they had to
kill. She would ease the caustic remorse, would say there was
nothing else he could’ve done, and everything was going to be all
right. They could take care of him and the others—feed them,
shelter them, and patch up their wounds. There’d be no reason to
worry anymore, and he wouldn’t have to be in charge. He could focus
his attention on Kelly, on rekindling that sparkle of joy that used
to illuminate her eyes.